


Deadly Game

by MrProphet



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 12:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10697358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	Deadly Game

Donna turned slowly in her chains. “I’ll get you for this!” she called out. “Oh, you are in so much trouble buddy-boy! When I get down from here…”

“Oh! I feel sorry for the poor man,” the Doctor said, popping up from behind a pillar. “Well, dog.”

“I was talking to  _you_ , Spaceman,” Donna snarled. “You’re the one who brought me here and ran off.”

The Doctor looked crestfallen. “Oh, now that’s not quite fair. I was trying to protect you.

“Nice job.”

“Well, you’re still alive, aren’t you?” the Doctor challenged. As he spoke he was sauntering around the chamber, examining the architecture and the small collection of alien machinery piled up in the corner. “If you’d stuck with me then you might have been caught in the crossfire, ended up as collateral damage. As it is, I knew the G’shik wouldn’t hurt you on purpose.”

“The Gah-chic? That’s JoJo the Dogfaced Boy out there? Well, he might not have wanted to hurt me, but hanging up by my arms is  _really beginning to ache!_ ”

“Yes; that’s just the shoulder muscles starting to strain. It’ll get worse once I let you down.”

Donna glowered at him. “Is  _that_  why you’re  _not_  getting me down?”

“No! Well, partly, but mostly because there’ll be a trap. Very big on traps, G’shik. Like this one; capture my companion, hang her up where I can’t miss her as bait.”

“And what makes you so special?” Donna demanded. “Did you sleep with its sister or something?”

“Oh, I’ve never met this particular G’shik, but they all do this,” the Doctor explains.

“Why? Are you more of a cat person?” Donna wondered, taking refuge in sarcasm.

“I suppose I am, but this isn’t about species; or not theirs. The G’shik aren’t a race, they’re more of…” He waved his hand, fishing about for the right word, but was suddenly distracted. “Armoury!”

“The G’shik are an armoury?”

“What? No. This is an armoury,” he explained, moving towards a locked cabinet. He took out his sonic screwdriver and played its tip across the lock. “The G’shik are… a club!” he declared.

“He’s got a club?” Donna was nonplussed. “Isn’t the blimming big gun enough for him?”

The Doctor swung the door wide. “No; the G’shik are a club. The name means ‘gentleman hunters’, as near as it means anything in your language.” The Doctor began to remove weapons from the cabinet, working on each of the shiny, high-tech guns for a few moments with the sonic screwdriver before putting it back. “They travel the universe, moving through time and space to collect as many trophies as possible.”

“Trophies?” Donna asked, horrified. “You mean, like, stuffed heads on wall?”

“Holographic DNA replicas, actually, but the same principle.” The Doctor broke off from his work for a moment and pointed the screwdriver at one of the alien’s consoles.

The console pinged and twittered softly. After a moment, a beam of light sprang out and painted an image in the air; a moving, three-dimensional image.

“That’s one of those robot things,” Donna said. “The ones that attacked Canary Wharf.”

“Oh, you took the time to find out about them did you?” the Doctor asked. “They’re not just something that happened while you were underwater?”

“Yeah. I told you; I found out about all that stuff when I was looking for you. That’s a Cyberman.”

“Yes it is; and one of our home-grown variety,” the Doctor mused. “This G’shik must be  _really_  good.”

“He hasn’t caught  _you_  yet.”

“No, he…” The Doctor paused again and glanced at her. “Wait, was that an insult.”

“Well, duh!”

“Oh. Good one. I like it.” He went back to work. “Anyway… All done.” He swung the cabinet closed and then flourished the sonic screwdriver at the wall. A moment later, Donna felt herself being lowered down to the floor.

“At  _last_ ,” she groaned. “Oh, my arms are killing me.” She stumbled when she was forced to take her own weight on her legs for the first time in over an hour.

“Try not to do too much to start with,” the Doctor suggested, moving to support her. “And keep close to me.”

“Why…? Look out!” Donna cried. She tried to push the Doctor away, but he held onto her tightly, apparently unaware of the dog-faced G’shik who was pointing a blimming big gun at them.

“It’s alright,” the Doctor assured her. “He won’t shoot at us with that, will you G’shik?”

“What do you know?” the hunter demanded.

“I know that’s a Villengard Spug-3 implosive projectile rifle,” the Doctor assured him. “If you shoot it at me, you’ll kill Donna as well and you won’t do that?”

“He won’t?” Donna asked. “You sure about that, are you?”

“Absolutely. Well, almost absolutely. More so since he hasn’t killed us yet.”

“Oh, good.” She looked at the G’shik. “So, why’s that then? Don’t you kill women or something?”

The Doctor shook his head. “I’m not sure this is the time for insisting on equal rights to be shot. Anyway, it isn’t that, is it?”

“No,” the G’shik agreed. “You would not be… unique.”

“Eh?”

“The G’shik hunt for  _unique_  trophies; one from each species. The first to collect one of every sentient species in the universe – if they ever do – wins the game. That’s why they’re all so interested in me; I’m the last of the Time Lords.”

“Oh, yeah; I should’ve realised, but I’d forgotten that, what with it being twenty minutes since you last mentioned it.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad, am I?” the Doctor protested. “Am I?”

Donna shrugged and winced at the motion. “Sort of, yeah. I’m not saying you milk the reputation, but you do like the image, don’t you? Moody loner; last of a mighty race.”

“Alright, alright. Next time I ask that question, feel free to tell a comforting lie. Anyway, with the rest of my race erased from time, I’m what you might call a highly collectable piece. You on the other hand would be a repeat kill. Everyone in the club’s killed a human.”

“And it’s against the rules to kill the same species again?”

The Doctor seesawed his hands. “Not a strict rule, but they’d point and laugh at him at club parties.”

“Silence!” The G’shik barked.

“Why should we?” Donna challenged. “You can’t shoot us so why don’t  _you_  shut up?”

“Enough! I don’t need this weapon to kill you!”

“No, of course not,” the Doctor agreed. “Although you do need a weapon, don’t you? Can’t just strangle me; you need the DNA extrapolators in your guns to record the kill as yours. That’s also why he can’t shoot both of us and lie about you,” he added in an aside.

“Yes, thank you.” Donna’s scorn was withering. “I am capable of following a simple conversation.”

The G’shik sneered. “I have other weapons.”

“Of course you do,” the Doctor agreed brightly. “But you’re not going to get them. You’re going to let us go back to our ship and leave. If you try to kill us, you’ll be sorry.”

“Sorry?” the G’shik gave a harsh laugh. “And what will you do to me?”

“Nothing,” the Doctor assured him. “Whatever I was going to do, I’ve done, but you will be sorry. I’m giving you this one chance to walk away, G’shik. Pack up your things in your capsule and fly off into the wild blue yonder.”

“I don’t think so.” The G’shik strode over to the weapons cabinet and opened it. He sorted through the weapons within, finally selecting a huge, shoulder-carried cannon.

“Shouldn’t we be running?” Donna asked.

The Doctor shook his head. “He’s got weapons in there which can target and shoot through solid stone. Might as well see what’s happening.”

The G’shik took aim.

“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” the Doctor said.

The hunter pulled the trigger and his cannon exploded. He was thrown backwards and lay still, smoke coiling from his scorched body.

“You booby-trapped his guns?” Donna asked. “You killed him?”

The Doctor shrugged ruefully. “I warned him,” he said. “If he’d let us go he’d have had time to realise what I did.”

Donna shook her head. “You’re really good at this stuff, aren’t you? Convincing yourself that you didn’t do it.”

The Doctor looked at her for a long moment and then shook his head. “Not really,” he admitted. “I just make it sound that way.”


End file.
